William and Sarah Collum-Kissing Cousins

This is a true story of ancestors, compiled by gathering facts, data, timeline, culture, etc. this story was written July 13, 2014

Submitted: June 19, 2017

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Submitted: June 19, 2017

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William Monroe Collum and Sarah Jane Collum-

Kissing Cousins

By Faye Collum Fairley

His uncle was his father-in-law; his mother-in-law was his aunt. Since his wife was his first cousin, their children were his second cousins.
William’s father was the great-uncle to their children and their third cousin. Sarah’s dad was her children’s grandfather, great uncle, and their third cousin. Since her dad was her
husband’s father–n-law, she was a niece-in-law to her own father. Confusing, right?

Now that I have your attention, I’ll tell you the story of William and Sarah.

William Monroe Collum was born in 1856. When William was 22 years old, he married his beautiful 1st wife. Her name was Sarah Jane Collum.

Her dad and William’s dad were brothers! William and Sarah had four children: (1) Margaret, (2) Charles David, (3) Robert, and (4) Janie Sue. Sarah
died in 1890, when little Janie Sue was only 10 months and 15 days old.William Monroe then married Mattie Whelchel. They had five children.

In the late 1800’s, with no means of travelling, folks didn’t visit or meet many people. This is evident in the case of these first cousins joining in
marriage.Studying the culture reveals that the first automobiles didn’t hit the roads till the late 1880’s. Even then, they were probably only owned by the very affluent. Until that time,
horse and buggies, and walking were the major modes of transportation. Most of the families in that era did major farming; this took most of a 24 hr day. That left no time to do any
visiting or “courting”.

.

This was not an individual occurrence. Sarah’s nephew Mackey Lee Collum (her brother’s son) married her niece Alva Grace Collum (another brother’s daughter).
That couple did not have any children.

These few Collum brothers had 38 children between them. With no chance of doing any travelling to meet new people, they didn’t have many non-relatives to
choose from when it was time to marry. In those days, it is safe to assume that all the neighbors were relatives. They lived side by side, and worked side by side. How unusual
then, is it to assume that some would fall in love?

It is very unusual to see 1st cousins marry today. This could be attributed to the fact that there are more people to choose from. We also have
ways of travelling, social networks, and other ways of meeting people both far and near.

It is also true in many instances today that we have a few first cousins we might have dinner with, but we certainly wouldn’t marry!

The End

William Monroe Collum 1856 son of Henry Collum 1817 and Roseanna Owens 1822 Sarah Jane Collum 1856 daughter of John and Amanda
Collum